The latest proof is a multimillion-dollar transaction in the heart of the central business district.

Last week, The Marketing Directors announced the sale of the second-largest penthouse in the high-rise community known as Alteza.

The purchase price for the 4,565-square-foot residence was $2.4 million.

The deal speaks to San Antonio’s thriving downtown residential market, says Uri Vaknin, senior vice president of business development/sales for The Marketing Directors. The Atlanta-based firm serves as the in-house sales team for Alteza — which is located on the top nine floors of the Grand Hyatt San Antonio hotel downtown.

To date, of the 147 residences that make up Alteza, 44 of the units have been sold — 15 since the start of 2013.

“This is one of the most spectacular properties we’ve ever sold,” says Vaknin, whose firm markets high-end communities all over the country.

And it is a property that has definitely been embraced by local homebuyers — despite the fact that condominium living in general has been slow to catch on here.

“San Antonio is a nascent condo market for sure. We’ve had to educate people — the consumers and the brokerage community (about Alteza),” Vaknin says.

But the sales history for Alteza shows that there are those who are willing to invest in the kind of lifestyle the community provides.

Vaknin also points to the recent auction of units at nearby luxury high-rise Vidorra as another example of how downtown living is gaining in popularity.

New York City-based auction house Sheldon Good & Co. oversaw the one-day, developer close-out auction that took place this past April. Of the 39 units that were up for grabs in Vidorra, 36 were sold.

The condos sold for anywhere from $160,000 to $480,000. They were originally priced from $184,000 to $699,000.

“Those condos sold for a very reputable price point,” says Vaknin, adding that the auction showed that there is a “true demand” for downtown housing.

So who are the buyers in Alteza?

“We have a mix of full- and part-time residents,” Vaknin says. He quickly adds, however, that many of those who were dividing their time between residences are now “spending more time living in Alteza, once they realize how fabulous their life really is.”

It’s been a busy year already for locally based Sitterle Homes. The builder has celebrated the debut of some new communities in the Alamo City and an impressive slate of awards from the 2013 Spring Parade of Homes. The company also opened a new division in Houston. Sitterle Homes’ success even made news on the other side of the world. In February, The Japanese Broadcasting Corp. (NHK) flew a crew to San Antonio to put together a news package on the upward trend in the homebuilding industry — using Sitterle’s sales numbers as the lead-in for the package. NHK (Nippon Horo Kyokai in Japanese) is Japan’s sole public radio broadcaster.

Co-owners Frank Sitterle Jr. and Jeff Buell discussed with the Business Journal some of the firm’s highlights so far this year:

Q: What was it like to have NHK come down and do a feature on you?

Sitterle: Sitterle Homes was honored to represent the luxury homebuilders in South Texas and show an international audience how much our region is growing. During their visit, we gave them a tour of several of our newest communities and explained what our homebuyers want in a dream home and how we provide it. Their excitement and enthusiasm over what we build and (over) how many families now have their dream homes (built by us) made me realize how far we’ve come as a family-owned business and how much more there is still to do.

Buell: It was humbling to have an international show interested in us as a Texas homebuilder. It’s easy to forget how lucky we are to have the option of larger luxury homes. Space in Japan is the luxury, and they can’t imagine what it is like to have so many large rooms, outdoor living with fireplaces and a pool, and multiple home-design plans to choose from.

Q: All in all, Sitterle won six awards at the 2013 Spring Parade of Homes. Tell me about the spirit award, and what these awards say about Sitterle.

Sitterle: The Spirit Award recognizes the builder who uses the most Greater San Antonio Builders Association members (subcontractors) on the parade home. (The award gives) credit to those builders who allow associates to bid their jobs. We wouldn’t be an award-winning homebuilder without our team or their commitment to our industry through the Greater San Antonio Builders Association.

Buell: The Parade of Homes is an opportunity for the community to see what their dream home can look like. The awards are additional support that our designs are among the best, while still being environmentally friendly and energy efficient, especially with “green” being the theme of the 2013 Parade. It’s also a testament to the care and dedication our team gives in every home we build.

Q: How goes it in the Bayou City?

Sitterle: Things are moving right along in Houston. We officially broke ground at Riverstone (a garden-home subdivision) on June 19, and construction has begun. These aren’t the garden homes of previous decades. They’re more spacious, luxurious and designed to be lock and leave. Our Houston partner-owner Steve VonHofe and his team are hard at work with Johnson Development to have homes up before the end of the summer. This new master-planned community in Sugar Land is just the beginning. We’re already planning for another community, Imperial Sugar, this fall.